Medicaid Outpatient Drug Spending and Usage Metrics

U.S. Medicaid data presents information on spending for covered outpatient drugs prescribed to beneficiaries. The dataset focuses on average spending per dosage unit and its change over time, including manufacturer spending and consumer-friendly drug use information. It is published by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and was last updated in December 2025.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in average spending per dosage unit over time for specific drugs.
• Compare manufacturer-level spending information across different drug categories.
• Examine the relationship between consumer-friendly drug use descriptions and reported spending metrics.
• Track changes in total drug spending reimbursed by Medicaid and non-Medicaid entities.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
• Includes detailed metrics like average spending per dosage unit and its temporal change.
• Covers spending for covered outpatient drugs prescribed to the national Medicaid beneficiary population.

Limitations

• The specific number of records (rows) and data attributes (columns) is unknown.
• Data completeness and update frequency beyond the last update date are unspecified.
• The dataset's temporal coverage and exact geographic granularity are not detailed.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Collection Method

Aggregated from Medicaid reimbursement and drug utilization data.

Freshness

Last updated on 2025-12-11.

Geography

United States